Could the next Sherlock special see the duo fighting the Nazis in World War Two?
Exclusive | Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss shares an idea that he and Steven Moffat have for the future of the BBC sleuth
What’s the future of Sherlock? That’s the question on many fans’ lips as the BBC series looks increasingly unlikely to return to screens anytime soon and lead actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman book up their diaries with more high-profile roles.
However, if the smash-hit drama does make its way back to TV at some point (which apparently won’t be for well over two years), series co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have a juicy idea for another special like their Victorian-set 2016 adventure The Abominable Bride – but this time, it’d take place in another time period.
“I don’t know!” Gatiss told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive video interview (below) when asked what he’d never attempt in the drama series, before revealing the idea that he and Moffat had kicked around in the past.
“Well, the Victorian special kind of started out as a joke and then became a real thing,” he said.
“And we have joked about doing one in black-and-white where they fight the Nazis. So maybe that’s what we’ll do.”
Sherlock and John battling baddies in the 1930s or 40s? Engaging in derring-do and danger in service of Queen and country in the vein of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's classic Holmes and Watson? Sounds pretty great to us…
Gatiss, who has guest edited Radio Times this week as part of the BBC’s Gay Britannia season, also discussed where he and Moffat left the characters in the latest series of Sherlock, which he says paid tribute to previous adaptations of the characters.
“I think what we did, and it wasn’t our intention in the beginning, what we ended up doing was writing their origin story,” Gatiss told us.
“The reason very specifically the last frame at the end of series four is them at Rathbone Place, and Mary Morstan’s voice saying ‘you’ve become the legend – you’ve become what we need you to be’ – we’ve sort of got them to where they usually are when we pick up the story.
“They are usually two men either side of the fireplace, and someone rings the bell. And off they go! And I think we’ve sort of ended up doing the story of how they became those two men.”
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Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
